St. Landry democrat., 1887-12-10
PARIS BEFORE THE SIEGE.
Some of Ghe Suggestions Made by the
Parisians for Defense.

Some of The Suggestions Made by the
Parisians for Defense.
A great day was made of the 21st OF
September, the anniversary OF the proc
lamation of the first republic, on which
occasion NJ. Gambetta issued a stilted ad
dress of the usual color, reminding the
Parisians that on that day seventy-eight
years before their fathers had founded
the republic and chad taken an oath to
themselves, in the teeth of the foreigner
whose presence polluted the sacred soil
Of their country, to live free or die fight
ing" They had kept their oath, had
conquered and had left behind them
great example of national heroism
The Parisians of 1870 were to
take pattern by the Parisians Of
1892, and they also would conquer. They
were to honor their fathers memories
that day; on the next day they were to
secure victory by facing death. 1t is
difficult for Englishmen to understand
the frame of mind of people who, in the
midst of deadly disasters and perils,
could indulge in such solemn buffoonery
as this, and actually imagine that they
were promoting the defense of the coun-
try. Equally absurd was a proposal
made in Octoberto raise ten battalions of
women, without distinction of social
rank, to be called "The Amazons of the
Seine" These female soldiers were
principally destined to defend the ram
parts and barricades jointly with the sta
tionary National Guards. They were to
be armed with light guns, and their cos
tune was to consist of pair of black
trousers with an orange-colored stripe,
a blouse of wooden stuff, and cap and
kept. The officers wore to be ladies.
An appeal was at the same time made
to the women of the richer classes to
give up their jewels and trinkets to de-
fray the expense of arming 100000 of
their sisters. The placard which an
nounced the formation of the band of
Amazons remarked that women, more
than men, are gifted with the divine fire
of grand resolution which saves and the
active devotion which sustains and con-
soles. May Europe" concluded the doc
ument, "learn with admiration, that not
only thousands of citizens, but thousands
of women, defend, inside Paris, the lib
erty of the world against fresh inva-
sion of barbarismn' The corps of female
warriors was really formed; but little
was heard of it until the civil war fol-
lowing the conclusion of peace with
Germany, when the women, as in the
time of the first revolution, were fore
most in ferocity. Another suggestion
was that prussic acid should be used
against the enemy. The women were to
carry on one of their fingers a little
India-rubber thimble, at the end of which
was to be small sharp tube containing
the poison. The citizen who propounded
this notable device at a public meeting
thus described the working of the
scheme: THE Prussian approaches;
you hold out your hand; you prick
him-he is dead! If several Prussians
approach, she who has the prussic finger
pricks them one by one, and remains
tranquil and pure, having around her
circle of corpses." The women who
heard this grotesque nonsense shed
tears, either in commiseration of the
poisoned Prussians or in admiration of
their own Lucretia-like virtue and its
novel vindication. The men had the
good sense to laugh. Perhaps they de-
tected grim humor and irony in the
idea of Prussians being killed with
prussic acid.-Erc1tange.